Geocaching – treasures are around us

Data aktualizacji: 2016-10-18

Treasure hunt is a game not only for children! Even though we will not find boxes with precious stones or gold, we will become familiar with various places and their history and will have a thrilling experience. Geocaching – looking for containers (caches) with treasures on the basis of GPS co-ordinates – is popular worldwide.

The game of hiding and seeking caches was actually originated by the U.S. President Bill Clinton, who allowed not only military people, but also ordinary citizens to use the GPS system. The first cache was hidden on the 3rd of May 2000, and its co-ordinates were N 45 17.460 W122 24.800. Two years later the game began to be practiced in Poland, too. Until today, a few thousand caches were hidden in the territory of Poland.

Becoming a discoverer

’Before going on holidays, we always check online if there any caches to be found in the area where we will be staying,’ tells Agnieszka. ‘Thanks to geocaching, we have visited Croatia and Pomerania, and this is also our method of discovering Wrocław. Before starting our search, we prepare small items – fobs, small figures, brooches, leashes etc. – which we will put into the discovered cache.’

If you want to take part in geocaching, all you need is a smartphone and an application with a GPS that you can download from the Internet. Applications are described, among others, at http://www.opencaching.pl

Geocaching is a field game during which caches hidden by other fans of geocaching are sought. This is done with the help of reported GPS co-ordinates, a description and any potential tips concerning the hidden cache. Maps with marked locations of caches can be found at http://www.opencaching.pl (Poland) lub www.geocaching.com (world).

Contribute your own treasure

Each cache is a protected waterproof container containing small gifts and a logbook in which successive finders record their discoveries. Each container may contain everything that will fit inside it: advertising pens, reflective bands, mascots, fobs, CDs with music, advertising bags for perfumes, small balls, rolls, figures and soldiers. The finder can take anything he wants, on condition that he contributes something to be found by another discoverer, too. In the cache there is also a logbook – a special record in which we have to enter our name or nick, the date of opening the cache and the items that we have taken away or inserted. It is also worth making an entry in the online log, from which we will learn who and when found the cache before us.

Seek, but don’t  „spoil” the cache

Sometimes a cache is difficult to find. It is well hidden in a place that is difficult to reach or where nobody expects it. Thus, caches are ranked in the difficulty scale from 1 to 5, where 5 is the most difficult type. When looking for it, it is worth having specialist equipment (e.g., a 4x4 drive car, ropes or diving equipment), good physical condition and broad knowledge. Warnings can be read on the website. Hiders of caches advise potential seekers to put on adequate footwear or to take flashlights or a spade.

Some caches are hidden in the very centres of cities. In order to find them, we have to choose a time when there are few passers-by or tourists, because we must not „spoil” the cache – we have to discover it in such a way that its hiding place does not become known to unwanted or accidental persons.

‘I remember looking for a cache hidden in the wall of a historic church in a small picturesque town on the Adriatic,’ recollects Agnieszka. ‘We took three approaches to this cache. Finally we went there late at night, when there were no strollers or tourists. And we made it!’

When you begin your geocaching adventure, it is better to start with caches hidden in easily accessible locations and leave the more difficult ones for a later time.

They are present, but where?

Caches can be found virtually everywhere around the world – in parks, in bunkers, in city centres and in the outskirts of cities. In historic places and in completely surprising locations. They vary in size, content and location. There are caches that can be opened only on a designated day during a selected event.

Finding caches in places that are apparently easy to reach requires much brainwork to be done. ‘Once we looked for a cache on a well-known Wrocław bridge,’ tells Tomek. ‘We walked all around it, we leaned over the barrier, we even went down to the river bank to check the area under the bridge – all in vain. Only after more than one hour of searching did we eventually find a treasure container in the most surprising place, which we originally had not taken into consideration.’

There are also caches that are physically absent – virtual caches. These containers are not a logbook in a physical sense. When looking for it, we have to be observant and try to remember as many details as possible that we came across in the area of stated GPS co-ordinates. This will help us answer the questions asked by the owner of the cache and, consequently, to receive a password to the online log of the cache.

An event cache is used for organising a meeting of geocachers in one place. A mobile cache is transferred to a new location by each successive finder (in each case, new co-ordinates of the cache must be reported online). There are also multicaches, where co-ordinates of the next cache are discovered in each successive location. Sometimes, in order to obtain co-ordinates, it is necessary to solve a puzzle, count the windows of a given building or solve a mathematical problem.

Sightseeing by discovering

Polish OpenCaching – contrary to some other world websites, it is a free service. It contains a database of caches and advice on how to establish your own cache and how to seek. There are also recommendations concerning GPS equipment and applications for smartphones. We should also become familiar with rules that must be observed by geocachers.

Wrocław is also a city of geocachers. You don’t have to seek far to find a cache. Seeking caches is also a good opportunity to sightsee the city. Caches under GPS co-ordinates are hidden in places with coats of arms of Wrocław, in the Ossolineum garden, in the area of the University of Wrocław (Uniwersytet Wrocławski), on Plac Biskupa Nankera, on the Rynek, in the former municipal prison and many, many other places.

All you need to do is start seeking and getting to know the city, because every cache has a description and information about historical places, attractions and interesting facts.

Information on geocaching is available at:

http://opencaching.pl

http://geocaching.com

http://geocaching.pl

Geocacher’s glossary

  • cacher – a person seeking caches (containers) with treasures
  • cache (geocache) – a hidden container containing a logbook of visits and treasures. These are usually plastic containers, empty tea or sweet cans, food storage boxes, vials, photographic film boxes, etc.
  • logbook – a record of visits; a note in which entries are made by successive finders.
  • co-ods – geographical co-ordinates of a cache.
  • log – a remark about the found cache made by the finder on a caching website; a comment, a hint.
Zdjecie Agnieszka Kołodyńska

Agnieszka Kołodyńska